Deadline Nears For Manchester Parents To Pick Remote Schooling
MANCHESTER, NJ — Manchester Township parents who are still trying to decide whether their child should start the 2020-2021 school year with fully remote instruction need to submit their decision by Friday, district officials said.
The district set Friday as the deadline to choose as it works to figure out staffing and other issues as schools look to restart in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Manchester is offering a hybrid option of students divided in A and B groups, with each group having two shortened days of in-person instruction and three days of remote instruction each week.
Parents also have the option to choose remote-only learning, a choice that had to be made by Friday.
Originally, students in hybrid learning would have had to stay in the hybrid setting through the end of the first marking period. But Superintendent David Trethaway said the district is changing that, and parents will be allowed to switch children to remote-only after school starts.
"After listening to some parent concerns and reading emails, we have decided to allow this change to be made prior to the end of the first marking period," Trethaway said. "Any parent who selects in-person instruction and decides to change that decision to remote-only instruction after the first two weeks, should contact the principal of the school their child attends to request the change."
Students who begin the year remote only will have to stay with that until the end of the first marking period.
"I hope this change helps parents who need to make the difficult decision of in-person instruction or remote-only instruction," he said. "While I realize that no schedule will meet the needs of all of our students and families, we are trying to take into consideration many of your concerns. We are also trying to provide our students with the best educational instruction possible under these circumstances."
Parents who need forms to make the remote-only selection can find them on the parent portal or, for new students, on the district's website.
Parents with questions or concerns can send emails to parentinput@mtschools.org.
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This article originally appeared on the Manchester Patch
